Two future Charleston hotels raise concerns for businesses

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston Board of Architectural Review is pushing forward designs for two different downtown hotels that some locals are concerned about.

One of the hotels will be placed in the parking lot between Anson’s Restaurant and Henry’s On The Market on Anson Street.

“With living here and operating a business here, we also want to see the balance,” Mary Edwards, manager of Palmetto Carriage Work, said.

Palmetto Carriage Works has been serving tourists downtown for over 50 years and is right next door to where this hotel is supposed to go. Edwards says she hopes city leaders are mindful of local businesses’ operations.

“It’s just our front door view,” Edwards said. “Seeing the church steeple right out our front window is now going to be a hotel, which is kind of a bummer.”

However, this is not the only hotel coming to the area. The other is replacing The Rainbow Market on N Market Street. Robert Summerfield, director of planning, preservation and sustainability for the city of Charleston, says the plan for this one is to preserve the front of the building and demolish the back.

“We do continue to see robust interest in creating opportunities for hospitality,” Summerfield said.

Summerfield says these hotels will be roughly 50 rooms each. Henry’s On The Market will be the next-door neighbor of both of these locations. One of its partners, Greg Russell, says he is concerned about how the noise of his live music and access to parking.

“It’s a concern downtown for anyone, especially employees, you know,” Russell said. “That’s one selling point is parking.”

But Summerfield says there are other options.

“The great thing about Market Street though, is there are a number of parking areas adjacent to or near Market,” Summerfield said.

Summerfield says the hotels still have to go through the technical review process before obtaining permits, which could take close to a year.

As far as local businesses are concerned, Russell says he knows this will still bring in more business.

“It’s beneficial to us to have, you know, good neighbors,” Russell said.

Edwards says she wants to be accommodating.

“And hopefully have a nice relationship moving forward,” Edwards said.

Summerfield says it is up to the developer to decide the timeline for these projects and how much it is going to cost.

Both hotels are owned by Pinnacle Hospitality Partners.

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